Who are the objects of Hashem's wrath in this Pasuk?
Rashi: 'Hashem's wrath burned against you; it consumed your land and its produce and it set fire to Yerushalayim'. 1
Rashi: Which is established on the mountains, as the Pasuk writes in Tehilim, 125:2.
What is the definition of Hashem's "Eish" that caused so much damage?
Rashi: It is literally the fire of Hashem's anger.
Targum Onkelos and Targum Yonasan: It is a fierce wind - like fire.
What is the significance of the punishments in the Pasuk?
Seforno: "Ki Eish Kadchah be'Api" is a parable referring to when Hashem chastised Yisrael so that they should do Teshuvah. 1 "Vatikad ad She'ol Tachtis" - they continued to sin 2 to the point that Hashem in His burning anger brought them down to the lowest depths; "Vatelahet Mosdei Harim" - and He removed all the leaders of the people. 3
Ibn Ezra: "Ad She'ol Tachtis" - implies that the entire land [down to the depths] will be burned. 4
Da'as Zekenim and Rosh: They imply that there is no place to escape Hashem's fire, not even in the depths or in tunnels under the mountains. 5
Aderes Eliyahu #1: The Pasuk is hinting at four locations of punishment. "Ki Eish Kadchah be'Api" - in the heaven - "Vecharah Af Hashem ... ve'Lo Yih'yeh Matar" (11:17) "Vatikad Ad She'ol Tachtis" - in the depths. "Vatochal Eretz vi'Yevulah" - in the upper realms, and "Vatelahet Mosdei Harim" - the pillars that uphold the world. 6
Aderes Eliyahu #2: The Pasuk hints at punishments in the four divisions in the world - "Ki Eish Kadchah be'Api" - the Beis ha'Mikdash ("Ketorah ba'Apecha" - 33:10), "Vatikad Ad She'ol Tachtis" - Chutz la'Aretz ("mi'Yad She'ol Efdem" - Hoshe'a 13:14), "va'Tochal Eretz vi'Yevulah" - Eretz Yisrael, and "Vatelahet Mosdei Harim" - Yerushalayim ("Harim Saviv Lah" - Tehilim 125:2). 7
Sifri: "Ki Eish Kadchah be'Api" teaches us that, when punishments fall upon the world, they fall with wrath. 8
Seforno: As the Pasuk writes in Divrei Hayamim 2, 28:22.
See Yeshayah, 3:1-3. See also Ba'al ha'Turim.
As the Torah wrote in Nitzavim, 29:22 in connection with S'dom.
Da'as Zekenim and Rosh: As in Iyov, 34:22. However, here the Pasuk says that one cannot escape punishment, and there, it says that one cannot hide one's evil from Hashem (PF).
The land stands on pillars, and the pillars on mountains. The Gemara states in Chagigah 12b: that the pillars stand on water - as the Pasuk writes in Tehilim 136:6 "Leroka ha'Aretz Al ha'Mayim"), and the water on mountains - as it writes in Tehilim 104:6 "Al Harim Ya'amdu Mayim".
Aderes Eliyahu: Alternatively, "Vatikad Ad She'ol Tachtis" - Gehinom, and "va'Telahet Mosdei Harim" - Gan Eden. As the Pasuk writes in Tehilim 36:7 "Tzidkascha ke'Harerei Keil".
See Torah Temimah, note 66.
